The turtles need no introduction, but here we go anyway! TMNT is among one of the best and greatest franchises to come out of the 80's. It sold billions upon billions of dollars in toys and spawned everything from TV shows to breakfast cereals and fruit pies. The video games came in droves and this is one that is a love letter to the beat'em ups of old. While TMNT for the arcade (or TMNT 2 for the NES) and TMNT 4: Turtles in Time are seen as the greatest in the genre, this is one that was released in 2022 and cultivated through DLC ever since.
You'll see, from the very start, that this is one of those beat'em ups that are just intuitive and brings about nostalgia just from the art style the game presents. It doesn't take itself seriously at all, and just brings about ancient ninja turtle enemies and allies unapologetically. Foot ninjas come in all colors with all kinds of weapons and it's just a lot of fun to see what they're doing before you come onto the screen. Sometimes, they just come in and attack you. Sometimes, the foot ninja are doing something else. Some of them are eating, some of them are shopping, some of them are working as desk clerks and fast food cooks.
There are enemies from all over the TMNT franchise. From Leatherhead to Metalhead, from Bebop and Rocksteady to Tokka and Rahzar, this game has them all! Does it bring about a great, detailed story for this to come in? No! It's a cartoon and it owns up to that through silly game and comic book logic, like Krang's robot body being collected little by little while the turtles over celebrate and fail to notice the obvious badguys.
It's a beat'em up, so there's a level of monotony, but that's to be expected. It's still well paced and there's a lot of great call-backs to the comics, TV shows and fan service of all kinds popping up through secrets, collectibles and achivements that give those nostalgia bones a pop. You can even play as so many different characters, not only the turtles but also Miyamoto Usagi and Casey Jones! Once you beat the entire game, you start unlocking all kinds of new content.
Beating the game is actually a ton of fun, especially when you get closer and closer to the end game from the original version. Fighting against Shredder and Krang comes to a new head as you fight the Super Shredder! This fight is so satisfying, especially if you're able to pull it all off, not dying with all of the power ups and health drops. Fans of Turtle Power are sure to love this, especially if you're a huge fan of the arcade classics.
The DLC's are few and cheap. Just because they are paid DLC doesn't take away from the fact that they elongate this game in the best ways and give you more options of play. This game brings in elements we loved from the games we played back when the NES was popular and arcades ran these games like rivers of gold. It really feels like these types of games being produced so well is becoming more and more rare as time goes on. We should have more games like this. Let's keep fighting Shredder and Krang and keep consuming pepperoni, mushrooms and cheese! Virtua Ninja Pizza Run!!!!
